Geese face significant welfare challenges in farming, with foie gras production representing one of the most controversial practices, and down feather harvesting raising additional concerns.
Farmed goose welfare encompasses a spectrum of concerns from the extreme cruelty of foie gras force-feeding to the less visible but still significant welfare costs of live feather plucking and intensive confinement. Foie gras production causes liver pathology, respiratory distress from enlarged organs pressing on the air sacs, and extreme fear from repeated forced handling. Scientific consensus that this constitutes severe animal suffering has driven bans in multiple countries. Down feather welfare requires traceability from farms using responsible harvesting practices without live plucking.